Vreta Abbey, in operation from the beginning of the 12th century to 1582, was the first nunnery in Sweden, initially Benedictine and later Cistercian, and one of the oldest in Scandinavia. It was located in the municipality of Linköping in Östergötland. The exact year of the foundation is not known. The abbey was founded by King Inge I of Sweden and Queen Helena on the orders of Pope Paschal II, which gives a date range for the foundation: Paschal became pope in 1099; the date of Inge's death is disputed, but probably occurred around 1105 or a little later. In the following decade King Inge the Younger and Queen Ulvhild made large donations to it. Vreta Abbey was a house of Benedictine nuns until 1162, when it was turned into a Cis

tercian nunnery. The first Cistercian abbess was Ingegerd, sister of Charles VII. A second sister, Helena of Sweden, widow of Canute V of Denmark, entered Vreta as a nun after being widowed in 1157, and other members of the Swedish and Danish royal families were also here. In the 13th century, Princess Helena Sverkersdotter of Sweden were among its abbesses. It was a prestigious establishment, thought to be the burial place of the kings Inge the Younger, Filip Halstensson and Ragnvald Knaphövde. It served as a school for daughters of Sweden's ruling families and nobility. Vreta Abbey has entered folklore as the scene during the 13th century of a number of prominent abductions of girls for marriages disapproved of by their families.